The Essex Library will host an eclectic holiday concert by the Community Music School’s Adult Ensemble on Thursday, Dec. 2 at 7 P.M. The group, led by Tom Briggs, will perform a lively, wide-ranging selection of music celebrating the festive season, along with some surprises. Formed during the fall of 2009, the ensemble is open to adults who play any instrument at an intermediate or advanced level. Director Tom Briggs also serves as arranger for the group, and new members are always welcome.

The concert is free, but reservations are requested, and may be made by calling the Essex Library at 860-767-1560.
Community Music School, located in Centerbrook, also offers a New Horizons Band for adult beginners, a group voice class, a string ensemble, and of course private lessons. For information about any of the programs, visit www.community-music-school.org, or call the school office at (860) 767-0026.

Chester author Suzanne Levine will present her first collection of poetry, The Haberdasher’s Daughter, at the Essex Library on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 7 P.M.

Her poetry has appeared in numerous magazines, and she was a nominee for the Pushcart prize, as well as a finalist in the 2009 Midnight Sun Chapbook Competition.

Suzanne teaches the craft of memoir writing with Lary Bloom at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut libraries and community centers. Suzanne will talk about her writing, read some selections from the book, and books will be available for signing and sale.

The program is free and open to all, although registration is requested. Please call us at 860-767-1560. The Essex Library is at 33 West Avenue in Essex Village.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Kate Zernike, author of Boiling Mad: inside Tea Party America, will be at the Essex Library on Thursday, Oct. 7, at 7 p.m.

As the 2010 midterm elections approach, the Tea Party has emerged as the wild-card player. Will its energy propel the Republicans in an electoral sweep, or has it actually complicated their efforts to take back their congressional majority? While many commentators have attempted to analyze this movement in one-off interviews and articles, Ms. Zernike has covered the movement from the beginning, and no one else has dug deep into the movement’s philosophical and cultural underpinnings. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Please call the Essex Library at 860-767-1560 for more information and to register for this informative evening.

The Essex and Ivoryton Libraries have been conducting some fun and unique story times for children this summer. The two libraries have partnered with the Essex Park and Recreation Department and are reading stories to children outside every Wednesday in July and August at 10am at the Viney Hill Brook Park on Hillside Drive in Essex.

The children will listen to several stories read by Elizabeth Alvord of the Ivoryton Library and Judie McCann or Jessica Branciforte of the Essex Library, and then do a simple craft at the picnic tables. It has been a nice cool place to do story time, even during all the heat and humidity this summer. And the families even get to go swimming after story time.

The Essex Library is celebrating its 10th year of Sleepy Time Stories on the lawn of the CT River Museum at 6:30pm on Thursdays. Judie McCann has been reading stories on the lawn of the museum since the summer of 2001. She brings her blanket and spreads it out for all to share. It has become quite popular through the years with local and visiting families. And the CT River Museum now has “Thursdays on the Docks” from 5:30-7:30, a popular evening of cocktails, live music, and light snacks served up on the North Deck while the main floor galleries are open for perusal.

Innsbruck Café is among the works of artist Duane Perreault on display at the Essex Library throughout September.

The drawings of Moodus artist Duane Perreault will be on display at the Essex Library through the month of September. Duane Perreault is a self taught pen and ink illustrator who works in the pointillist style. He works with mechanical pens and watercolor inks, mixing the colors himself.

While small in scale, the drawings are full and lush, and leave the observer marveling at his ability to render so much information in so little space. Duane works from his own photographs, his subjects ranging from beautiful landscapes to industrial images. Equally adept at both, Duane’s drawings invoke a natural sense of intimacy between the artist and the viewer.

The show is open to the public during regular library hours. The Essex Library is at 33 West Avenue.